1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for plant culture and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus which permit the crop producing portions of plants, and particularly upstanding commercial crop varieties such as grapevines having tendrils, to be supported with the crop producing portions thereof supported throughout the growing season in such a manner as to be easily adjustable to accommodate such growth as it takes place with substantially less expenditure of labor than is required by conventional techniques of plant culture not possessing these operative advantages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The growing of commercial plant varieties, and particularly those that produce commercially harvested crops, entails a multitude of considerations which include both the horticultural requirements of the plants for commercially acceptable crop production as well as those purely commercial considerations such as minimizing the costs associated with such a commercial operation. Because of the costs associated with the planting, training and harvesting of commercial crops, including the need to protect the plants from diseases and pests as well as the need to prevent or eliminate unwanted growth such as weeds and the like, the costs resulting from both manual and mechanical labor are significant. Frequently the difference between a successful commercial operation and one that is not so fortunate resides in the efficiency with which such horticultural practices can be performed.
In the case of commercial crops such as grapes, significant manual labor is required in conventional horticultural practices to train the grapevines on a trellis structure, to secure the tendrils or canes of the grapevines which produce the crop on the trellis structure, to secure new growth of the canes on the trellis structure through the growing season, to harvest the crop from the canes and then to prune the canes for the next growing season. Conventional practice requires that the canes of the grapevines be tied on the trellis wires in the desired arrangement so that the crop once produced is more readily accessible and so that the crop produced is supported in such a fashion as to be most productive. While a wide variety of conventional practices exist, both as to configuration of the trellis structure as well as to the manner in which the canes are secured on the trellis structure, conventional practice in all cases of which the applicant is aware require that the canes be tied on the trellis structure and that this be done at two or more times during the growing season so that the new growth of the canes is adequately secured on the trellis structure for harvest. The manual labor required for tying of the canes constitutes a significant expense in the over all commercial operation.
Subsequent to the harvest season, the canes must be pruned extensively and the prunings removed from the trellis structure for disposal. While the pruning operation itself may be relatively easily performed by semi-skilled laborers, much of the canes which have been pruned remain tied on the trellis structure, and so must be untied therefrom for removal and disposal. The cost of manual labor to perform this operation constitutes a significant percentage of the over all cost of the pruning operation. These and other problems associated with conventional horticultural practices have long been the focus of attention heretofore without satisfactory resolution.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus for plant culture which is particularly well suited to the growth of commercial crops, such as grapes, which permits the fruiting portions of the plants to be trained in a manner most conducive to optimum crop production, which notwithstanding the horticultural benefits associated therewith reduces to an absolute minimum the expense associated with its practice in both manual and mechanical labor and which is otherwise more efficient and productive than conventional horticultural practices.